All my Tomatoes are getting Blossom End Rot

Not sure what is going on but I am really disapointed that all my Toms seem to be rotting. I have 6 plants in my ground level bed, and 4 plants each in their own 5 gallon pot.

I have so far had some rot on the ground level ones and also a bit of what appeared to be root rot. But I thought my potted ones would be fine but tonight I saw that they are getting rot as well.

It's been a weird year here with a drought that just ended. I have been watering everyday because it has been so hot and dry. Today I did not water because it rained yesterday and this morning, but tonight the potted toms looked droopy and there was B.E.R on the few small fruit that they had. I felt the dirt and it feels dry so maybe I should have watered them today? I don't know what to do anymore.

Questions:

1) Is rot from over-watering or under-watering?
2) Is there any way to salvage the situation and still get fruit? If so how?

The potted plants were started late so the fruit that is rotting is the first set, if that makes any difference. If there is little or no hope for recovery then I would rather pull the plants and put in some Peas or something. I can't believe I may be facing a year with no Tomatoes!!

Thanks.

Milton,



All is not lost.



What you are experiencing is "typical" for many growers on their "first tier" of tomato production.



THIS THREAD may give you some insight/direction and there are several others on the forum (just use search function in top left-hand corner).



Short story .... the fruit is probably unrecoverable/unsalvagable, based on the BER and maturity level your describing, but it can be removed and the plant will be able to produce more.



Hope that helps

milton_gardener wrote:Not sure what is going on but I am really disapointed that all my Toms seem to be rotting. I have 6 plants in my ground level bed, and 4 plants each in their own 5 gallon pot.

I have so far had some rot on the ground level ones and also a bit of what appeared to be root rot. But I thought my potted ones would be fine but tonight I saw that they are getting rot as well.

It's been a weird year here with a drought that just ended. I have been watering everyday because it has been so hot and dry. Today I did not water because it rained yesterday and this morning, but tonight the potted toms looked droopy and there was B.E.R on the few small fruit that they had. I felt the dirt and it feels dry so maybe I should have watered them today? I don't know what to do anymore.

Questions:

1) Is rot from over-watering or under-watering?
2) Is there any way to salvage the situation and still get fruit? If so how?

The potted plants were started late so the fruit that is rotting is the first set, if that makes any difference. If there is little or no hope for recovery then I would rather pull the plants and put in some Peas or something. I can't believe I may be facing a year with no Tomatoes!!

Thanks.

Just an opinion here. BER is a calcium defiency, which can be caused by over or under watering. Steady water supply is needed if your dirt is ok. I got BER at the first of the season, and I added some gypsum to the soil to give a boost of calcium, no more problems, no matter how I watered.

Jo

OK thanks everyone for the great tips. I read the post that was referred to and it seems that the calcium deficiency complicated by watering issues are to blame.

I went out this morning and my potted toms were so wilted I thought they were dead. I watered them and within an hour they were healthy and vigorous again. I think the issue started when I noticed the "discouloured stem" in my ground level toms, and BER, which I researched and attributed to over-watering, since I had been watering daily due to the drought.

So I stopped the daily watering of the in-ground plants which they seem to be ok with, but I failed to realize that since the potted toms are entirely dependant on my water, they need to be treated differently, IE watered daily.

I am going to go out this afternoon and look for some calcium supplement to give them, and if all else fails I will use human calcium suuplements dissolved in water, and hope for the best.

Most inportant thing I read was that this is not fatal nor a reason to pull the plants. Thanks for all the help.